Manganese Ore IPO by November: Steel Secretary

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The Government had decided to launch the IPO of Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) by end-November, as SAIL gets ready to place more shares in the market.

Speaking at a ceremony for felicitating Commonwealth Games medal winners, the Steel Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Misra, said on Monday that the roadshow for Manganese Ore's IPO would begin by mid-October.

"MOIL's pre-roadshow for the IPO will begin around October 20, with the final roadshow happening in the middle of November. The IPO could be launched in November-December," Mr Misra said.

Manganese Ore had filed draft papers for its IPO last month with the SEBI. The four-day IPO of MOIL is likely to begin on November 26. Edelweiss Capital, IDBI Capital and JP Morgan are the book running lead managers to the issue, sources said.

According to the proposal, the Central Government will sell a 10% stake, while Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments will dilute 5% each in MOIL. Currently, the Centre holds 81.57% in the company, while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have 9.62% and 8.81% stake, respectively.

Revenues from the stake sale is estimated to be Rs 3,000-4,000 crore, with the Centre raising close to Rs 1,500 crore and the two State Governments getting Rs 750 crore each, said an official. No fresh equity will be raised from the divestment.

SAIL FPO

SAIL has said that it has appointed six merchant bankers - JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, SBI Capital, Enam Securities, Kotak Mahindra Capital and HSBC - for managing the company's FPO. It expects to raise Rs 8,000 crore in the first phase.

"We have made offers to six merchant bankers to manage the first phase of SAIL FPO. We are in discussion with them on the timeline (of the FPO) and over the draft red herring prospectus," said the SAIL Chairman, C S Verma.

The first phase of the FPO can be launched in mid-December, he added, but if that date is missed, the offer may be pushed to January-February.

At present, the government holds a stake of over 85% in SAIL. After the FPO the stake is expected to go down to about 69%.

SAIL wants to part-fund its Rs 70,000-crore expansion programme with the proceeds from the share sale. For the government, the stake dilution will help attain its disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore for this fiscal.

Taken From

The Hindu Business Line